The firm has recently axed between 50 and 60 junior-level bankers within the firm’s mergers and acquisitions department in New York and San Francisco, sources inside and outside J.P. Morgan Chase said.

More senior-level job cuts in the mergers group are expected in the upcoming weeks.

The layoffs within the mergers group are the first of a string of planned cutbacks at all levels across investment banking, headed by Geoffrey Boisi, that will take place over the next month, sources added.

A J.P. Morgan Chase spokeswoman said the firm announced last fall cutbacks of 5,000 of the 95,000 jobs worldwide aimed at eliminating merger-related overlaps. “We’re more than half-way through that process, and expect to have it completed by the end of the year.”

That figure took into account expected departures from bankers who may have felt displaced by the merger. “When an organization announces merger-related headcount reduction, some of that comes from the normal course of attrition,” explained Michael Franzino, a partner of the financial services practice at Heidrick & Struggles International. “However, much of that attrition may not have happened because of the underlying market conditions.”

A J.P. Morgan spokeswoman confirmed that “the firm did much better than it expected in retention.”

Wall Street observers say they are hardly surprised. A year ago, securities firms were desperate for bodies to handle all of the investment banking business that was pouring into their offices. Now, as Wall Street dealmaking and new stock issues have slowed almost to a trickle, most of these firms are implementing hiring freezes – if not cutting staff themselves.

Already, thousands of heads have started to roll. A few weeks ago, Bear Stearns announced layoffs of 400 staffers in non-core operations, and Charles Schwab Corp. said it would cut as many as 3,400 jobs as a result of the market slump. Yesterday, Robertson Stephens Inc. dismissed about 80 people, including some bankers, according to Bloomberg.

Some aggressive firms are looking at the downturn as a chance to grab market share. “Several foreign firms, regionals and boutiques are using this as an opportunity to upgrade talent without having to compensate at truly exorbitant levels,” said Heidrick & Struggles’ Franzino.

Foreign banks, including Deutsche Bank and UBS AG, are still looking to woo top talent from rivals.

In November, officials at the firm said their merger would result in roughly 5,000 job cuts.